United States Dragon Boat Federation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911990147
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Dubuque, IA, USA
Phone
5634512065
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Amateur Sports Competitions

Reported finances

Revenue
$392,537
Expenses
$249,384
Assets
$668,933
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Tommy Leonardi (President)
  • Chris Marquart (1st Vice President)
  • Annely Thorstad (2nd Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Matthew Au (PacDBA Director)
  • Lesley Blyth (PacDBA Director)
  • Josh Hwung (PacDBA Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Promote the growth of Dragon Boating in the US for fitness, recreation, and team building at all levels of competition by offering training, clinics and certification for dragon boating officials, coaches, paddlers and festival organizers.

What it reported doing in 2025

The USDBF continues to offer clinics that help many different people in various aspects of the Dragon Boating sport. There are clinics for paddlers that are being held to help them improve on their paddling techniques, and become a better Dragon Boat paddler. There are clinics for people that have a desire to move into the coaching position for their local club. These clinics teach them the proper methods of passing on the paddling techniques to the participants. There are clinics for people that have a desire to become Officials at Dragon Boating events. These clinics are the first step in allowing them to earn their "USDBF Officials License". There are clinics that help people learn how to take control in order to command and steer a dragon boat during practice and competition.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 91% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The program-spending lines do not add up, so the filing cannot show reliably whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 6
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.3%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36.5%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.68; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.8% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.3% of revenue deployed · 95.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 12 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $239K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.